Marinated Beef Brisket, "In Your Mouth" Brisket

This is one of my favorite ways to do brisket. After I tried this recipe it took me over a year before I wanted to even try a different brisket recipe. Even now I come back to it quite often. This recipe I’ll be revisiting this month is nick-named the "In your mouth" brisket. As in ‘melts in your mouth’ or ‘can’t stick enough in your mouth’ brisket. This is from a favorite cookbook called Backyard BBQ from Chef Richard McPeake.

Chef McPeake comes from a great culinary background. He's worked as a professional chef for over 25 years and he's been a top instructor of BBQ in the Kansas City barbecue scene for the last several years. Between his career and his competition barbecue experience his talent is offered up by teaching great, creative recipes to the backyard enthusiasts and aspiring competitors alike. His book, featured on the right, is structured to teach not only the basics: types of woods, spice profiles, smoking techniques, tips on selecting meats, etc, etc. It's also great for experienced backyarders: great new rubs, marinades and recipes that are as creative as they are fail proof.

This beef brisket recipe is a great example of a foolproof smoker recipe. If you’ve ever had a problem with your brisket being too dry or not enough flavor this brisket knocks it out of the park on both occasions. Now for a little explanation, there are multiple muscles that make up a whole brisket or "packer" brisket. They are referred to as the point, when laying flat it’s the highest part of the brisket. Then there’s the flat, this is the rectangle or triangular-shaped piece underneath. This recipe is geared toward using just the brisket flat.

Directions

1) Prepare the marinade/mop in advance using the recipe above. Allow it to cool completely before using.

2) Trim the brisket flat leaving approximately 1/8-1/4 inch of fat. It’s important to leave enough to help keep the brisket moist during the cooking process. It is also important to take your time to properly select a brisket flat. Some of these are overly trimmed to begin with. A little fat here is a good thing.

3) Place the brisket in an XL Ziploc bag or a tall-rimmed pan. Pour the mop all around the brisket. Cover and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

4) Remove the brisket and pat dry. Reserve the liquid and boil it for 10 minutes so it can be safely used as a mop later.

5) Thoroughly rub the brisket with a few tablespoons of rub. Use more or less depending on size.

6) Bring your smoker up to 300°F. Allow the brisket to warm to room temp while the smoker is warming up. The chef suggests either pecan or cherry, but quite frankly this brisket is good with any mixture of bbq woods.

7) Place the brisket on the smoker at 225°F and cook for 2-3 hours to allow the bark to form. The recipe calls for 3 hours, but I may mop earlier if the brisket starts to look like it’s drying out.

8) Mop hourly until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. You can monitor the temperature with a wireless thermometer as shown in the first picture. Wrap the brisket with heavy duty or two layers of regular tin foil.

9) Cook until the brisket reaches an internal temperature of 195°F. Keep wrapped and cover with a towel while allowing it to rest 20-30 minutes.

NOTE: marinated briskets tend to cook more quickly with the amount of moisture in them. Plan for anywhere up to 1-2 hours less cooking time than you’d normally expect. If it finishes sooner than expected you can always use a cooler cambro to safely hold the temperature for up to 3 hours or more.

The Next Step and Other Brisket Marinades

When making this recipe be sure to make the BBQ sauce that he has paired with this recipe. If you think this is good...

This recipe truly is a must try (along with the Hell Fire Brisket, Sweet & Spicy Cherry Ribs and his competition team's Take My Breath Away Ribs). You may even find yourself reading McPeake's great Backyard BBQ cookbook from cover to cover. If you do, one of great things that you'll learn from this book is how to take the spice rub building blocks and make sauces that accentuate your rubs or mops. You'll also be able to take some of the techniques to launch yourself into some of the other recipes you've been dreaming about. One of my readers, who had problems with dry briskets, took the techniques from this recipe and made a great tequila lime brisket!